Death toll rises to 45 in storm-hit PH

05:41 PM December 20th, 2015

The death toll from two storms which battered the Philippines rose to 45 Sunday as several towns remained under water and rain kept falling in northern regions, disaster monitoring officials said.The rain was caused by a cold front, dragged into the country by Typhoon Nona (international name Melor) and Tropical Depression Onyok which hit the Philippines in succession last week.

Floods almost three meters deep covered some riverside areas north of the capital Manila as heavy rain kept falling, civil defense offices said.

“Our home has been flooded up to the waist. It has been flooded for over two days,” said Mary Jane Bautista, 35, in the industrial town of Calumpit 50 kilometers north of the capital.

Her family and several others were forced to take refuge on nearby high ground — in front of a church where their only shelter is the awning over the entrance.

“My husband has to wade through the waters to go home to get supplies. If we need water, he has to go to the faucet in our kitchen,” she told AFP, expressing fears the current could wash him away.

5.2-magnitude quake hits Ilocos Sur, aftershocks expected – Phivolcs

The earthquake struck near the town of San Juan, Ilocos Sur, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology says.

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck near the town of San Juan in Ilocos Sur on Thursday evening (December 17), according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

Aftershocks are expected, it added.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), however, said the quake that struck at 8:44 p.m. had a magnitude of 5.4.

A man crosses a flooded road in Sta Rosa, Nueva Ecija, one of the provinces hardest hit by Typhoon Koppu, Oct. 19, 2015. Koppu has weakened to a tropical storm, but authorities warn flooding may continue as water comes down from higher elevations. Reuters

Disaster officials advised communities in flood-prone areas of the northern Philippines to evacuate Saturday as the slow-moving Typhoon Koppu bore down on the coast with heavy rains and high winds. Heavy rains are expected to inundate many areas on the main northern island of Luzon even before the typhoon makes landfall early Sunday, and 24 hours thereafter, acting weather bureau chief Esperanza Cayanan said. Cayanan said that another typhoon farther east and a high pressure area north of the country will hold Koppu in a “semi-stationary” position and shroud most of Luzon with an enormous band of thick rain clouds. President Benigno Aquino appeared on national television to warn Filipinos about the typhoon and appealed for cooperation to prevent casualties. The typhoon was packing sustained winds of 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph) and gusts of up to 190 kph (119 mph) early Saturday about 300 kilometers (188 miles) east of Aurora, one of two provinces where it is forecast to come ashore. Forecasters expected sustained winds will reach 185 kph (116 mph) before it hits land. “We are looking at the possible worst scenario, not to scare but to allow us to prepare,” Cayanan said. “If it stays 24 hours … and the downpour is sustained, we will surely have floods and landslides.” She said the typhoon’s cloud band is about 600 kilometers (375 miles) across, unleashing the most intense rain close to the center. “Your government is here in order to ensure that we will meet our goal of zero casualties,” Aquino said Friday. “But I must emphasize (that) each local government unit, community, and Filipino that will be affected has the duty to cooperate … to overcome the challenges ahead.” It was the first time Aquino has personally issued a storm warning on television since super Typhoon Haiyan barreled through the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,300 dead and missing. He said the Social Welfare Department estimates that 1.5 million families, or about 7.5 million people, will need relief assistance. Metropolitan Manila, a sprawling urban area of 12 million, will be spared from the brunt of the typhoon but it is expected to be drenched with intense rain starting late Saturday, forecaster Adzar Aurelio said. “Let us not wait to be told to evacuate,” he said. “Let us evacuate and find the safe places.” Gabriel Llave, a disaster management officer of Aurora’s Baler township, told ABS-CBN television they expect to complete “pre-emptive” evacuations by nightfall. Civil defense chief Alexander Pama advised travelers to areas affected by the typhoon to postpone their trip. He said rescue units and relief supplies have been prepositioned near areas expected to suffer the worst from flooding and landslides. Koppu will likely be equivalent to a Category 3 or 4 hurricane, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Adam Douty. Douty said 300-600 millimeters (12-24 inches) of rain is expected to be widespread on Luzon but certain areas could be inundated by over 900 mm (36 in.) that is “sure to trigger severe and life-threatening flooding and mudslides.” Koppu will be the 12th storm to hit the Philippines this year. An average of 20 storms pummel the country annually.

Thousands of residents of the northern Philippines were forced to flee Sunday as Typhoon Koppu began its multiday battering of the region. The fierce storm is forecast to lumber over the country’s main island of Luzon at an excruciatingly slow pace and dump huge amounts of rain on the rugged terrain, setting off floods and landslides. Koppu came ashore in the early hours of Sunday morning at super typhoon strength, ripping the roofs off buildings and uprooting trees in the coastal province of Aurora. “Through the night, we’ve had extremely ferocious wind, torrential rain,” storm chaser James Reynolds told CNN from the town of Maddela. “The building I’m in — the water’s been coming in the windows.” Roads and communications to three towns in Aurora province have been cut off by flooding and landslides, including Casiguran, where the typhoon made landfall, authorities reported. “Based on the report of the Philippine Army, there were many houses destroyed and trees uprooted in the three towns,” the official Philippines News Agency said. The army and other agencies are trying to clear the routes to Casiguran, which has about 25,000 inhabitants, and the other towns, Dinalungan and Dilasag, it reported. In Baler, another town in Aurora, CNN Philippines reporter Paul Garcia said there was flooding in several neighborhoods. Surprised local residents said that while storms are common in the area, flooding is not, Garcia reported. Roughly 15,000 people are taking shelter in evacuation centers, the Philippines’ disaster management agency said Sunday. That number is expected to rise as the storm, known in the Philippines as Lando, crawls across northern Luzon. No casualties have been reported so far, according to the agency. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 240 kph (150 mph) when it slammed into the eastern coast of Luzon, according to the U.S. military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, although the Philippines’ national weather agency measured the winds as being significantly weaker, at 185 kph. The typhoon has since lost some of its strength as it has moved over land. The typhoon is predicted to dawdle across northern Luzon for several days because of a ridge of high pressure over China blocking its progress farther north. That gives it longer than usual to soak the region’s mountains and swell its rivers, threatening people who live downhill and downstream. “That’s where the problem with the flash flooding comes in, because when you have all of this rain that keeps coming down over the same places over and over, that is likely to trigger mudslides and landslides in addition to flash flooding problems in … some of the low-lying areas,” Chinchar said. Officials reported dozens of flight cancellations, thousands of people stranded in ports and many municipalities without power.

Slow-moving Typhoon Koppu weakened after blowing ashore with fierce winds in the northeastern Philippines on Sunday, leaving at least one person dead and six others missing, while displacing 16,000 villagers, officials said. Army troops and police were deployed to rescue residents trapped in flooded villages in the hard-hit provinces of Aurora, where the typhoon blew ashore early Sunday, and Nueva Ecija, a nearby rice-growing province where floodwaters swamped farmlands at harvest time, officials said. After slamming into Aurora’s Casiguran town after midnight Saturday, the typhoon weakened and slowed considerably, hemmed in by the Sierra Madre mountain range and a high pressure area in the country’s north and another typhoon far out in the Pacific in the east, government forecaster Gladys Saludes said. Howling winds knocked down trees and electric posts, leaving nine entire provinces without power while floods and small landslides made 25 roads and bridges impassable. Authorities suspended dozens of flights and sea voyages due to the stormy weather, and many cities canceled classes on Monday. By Sunday afternoon, the typhoon had veered toward the north from its westward course and was tracked over mountainous Nueva Vizcaya province with sustained winds of 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 185 kph (115 mph), according to the government’s weather agency. Satellite images show that the typhoon appeared to be losing its eye, a sign of its dissipating strength, acting weather bureau chief Esperanza Cayanan told reporters, adding that Koppu was forecast to move at a slow pace of 5 kph (3 mph) across the north before exiting the main northern island of Luzon on Wednesday. While weather had begun to improve in some towns, and villagers had started to clear roads of fallen trees and debris, Koppu was still packing a ferocity that could set off landslides and flash floods, officials said. “There’s still danger,” Cayanan said. “We shouldn’t be complacent.” A teenager was pinned to death on Sunday by a fallen tree, which also injured four people and damaged three houses in suburban Quezon city in the Manila metropolis. A man was electrocuted in northern Tarlac province and two bodies were seen being swept by floodwaters in Nueva Ecija, but authorities were trying to determine whether those were typhoon-related deaths. Three fishermen were reported missing in northern Bataan province, along with three other men in Aurora’s Baler town, according to the Office of Civil Defense. President Benigno Aquino III and disaster-response agencies have warned that Koppu’s rain and winds may potentially bring more damage with its slow speed. But Saludes, the government forecaster, said there was less heavy rain than expected initially in some areas, including in Manila, but fierce winds lashed many regions. A wayward barge carrying coal and 10 crew drifted dangerously close to a breakwater and marina in Manila Bay. A tugboat positioned to prevent the barge from drifting away. Forecasters said the typhoon had a cloud band of 600 kilometers (372 miles) and could dump rain over much of Luzon.

Army, police and civilian volunteers scrambled Monday to rescue hundreds of villagers trapped in their flooded homes and on rooftops in a northern Philippine province battered by slow-moving Typhoon Koppu. The typhoon blew ashore into northeastern Aurora province with fierce wind and heavy rains early Sunday, leaving at least two dead, forcing more than 16,000 villagers from their homes, and leaving nine provinces without electricity. But after its landfall, the typhoon weakened, hemmed in by the Sierra Madre mountain range and a high pressure area in the country’s north and another typhoon far out in the Pacific in the east, government forecasters said. By Monday morning Koppu was located over Ilocos Norte province with winds of 74 miles per hour and gusts of up to 93 mph. Several of the affected provinces, led by Nueva Ecija, were inundated by flash floods that swelled rivers and cascaded down mountainsides, trapping villagers in their homes and on rooftops, said Nigel Lontoc of the Office of Civil Defense. “There were some people who needed to be rescued from the roofs of their homes,” Lontoc told The Associated Press by telephone on Monday. “But our rescuers couldn’t penetrate because the floodwaters were still high.” Hundreds of soldiers, police and volunteers have converged on Nueva Ecija, a landlocked, rice-growing province in the heartland of the main northern Luzon island, to help villagers whose homes had been flooded, said Lontoc, adding there have been no deaths reported so far in Nueva Ecija’s flooding. Erwin Jacinto, a 37-year-old resident of Nueva Ecija’s Santa Rosa town, said the flooding turned his farmland into “nothing but mud.” Jacinto spoke from the top of a high-level bridge that juts out from his flooded town and where dozens of farm villagers like him stayed in the open overnight with their families, and their pigs and chickens. Koppu’s winds knocked down trees and electric posts, leaving nine provinces without power. Authorities suspended dozens of flights and sea voyages, and many cities canceled classes on Monday. A teenager was pinned to death on Sunday by a fallen tree, which also injured four people and damaged three houses in metropolitan Manila. In Subic town, northwest of Manila, a concrete wall collapsed and killed a 62-year-old woman and injured her husband, officials said. President Benigno Aquino III and disaster-response agencies had warned that Koppu’s rain and winds may potentially bring more damage with its slow speed. But government forecasters said that there was less heavy rain than expected initially in some areas, including in Manila, but that fierce winds lashed many regions. Koppu, Japanese for “cup,” is the 12th storm to hit the Philippines this year. An average of 20 storms and typhoons each year batter the archipelago, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

At least six people were confirmed dead due to incidents caused by Typhoon Lando over the weekend, according to reports reaching authorities. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), which is based in Quezon City, has reported three fatalities as of late Monday afternoon – one in Quezon City due to an accident involving a fallen tree, one in Benguet due to landslide, and one in Zambales due to a collapsed wall. Meanwhile, the Regional Disaster Risk and Reduction Management in Region III reported four fatalities, including the one in Zambales, as of 6 p.m. Monday. The three other fatalities were two from Nueva Ecija and one in Tarlac. The latest NDRRMC report said five were injured while one was missing. “Para po sa ating casualties, may naitala po tayo na tatlo po na namatay, lima pong injured and isa po ang kasalukuyan na nawawala,” Mina Marasigan, NDRRMC spokesperson, said in a press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo. “Yung sa ating mga namatay na mga biktima, isa po mula sa Zambales, isa [sa] Quezon City, at isa po mula Benguet na ang dahilan po nito ay landslide, dun po sa ating injured ay isa pa rin po sa Zambales, apat po sa Quezon City,” she added. An earlier NDRRMC report identified two of the fatalities as 14-year-old Aron Castillo, who was pinned down by a fallen tree in Quezon City, and 62-year-old Benita Famanilay, who was pinned down by a collapsed wall in Subic, Zambales.

A report by the Office of Civil Defense in the Cordillera Autonomous Region identified the latest fatality as Fernando Laso Gumpad, 57, a resident of Bakun, Benguet. According to the report, the victim went to tend to his farm at around 8 a.m. on Sunday but failed to return home in the afternoon, prompting his wife and son to look for him. “At around 6 p.m. of the same day, his wife and son decided to follow him and saw a landslide near their farm. The wife and son suspected that the victim was buried so they subsequently grabbed a crowbar and grabhoe to dig. The victims lifeless body was reported via cellphone call at around 12:30 a.m. on October 19, 2015,” it said. Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard said seven people died while two others were missing when a passenger banca capsized off Iloilo City on Sunday during the height of Typhoon Lando. Although reports like this indicate a higher death toll, Marasigan said NDRRMC only recorded three fatalities so far as reports need to undergo a stringent validation and confirmation process. “Katulad ng mga report na natatanggap natin mula sa ating ahensya, ito ay dumadaan pa sa confirmation at validation. Di tayo nagre-rely lang sa mga nakukuha natin mula sa social media at sa mga initial reports na binibigay. Ang mahalaga kasi dito ay may body count, may identification, at maitatala nating related nga ito sa bagyo,” she said. Typhoon Lando has affected a total of 283,486 individuals in Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, Calabarzon (Calamba, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) and the CAR. Of this number, 132, 621 individuals are staying with their families. Marasigan said the NDRRMC is continuously monitoring the rise of water in the Ambuklao, Binga and Magat Dams. A total of 36 road sections and 18 bridges, meanwhile, have been rendered impassable due to floods and possible landslides.

Army, police and civilian volunteers rushed Monday to rescue hundreds of villagers trapped in their flooded homes and on rooftops in a northern Philippine province battered by slow-moving Typhoon Koppu, officials said. The typhoon blew ashore into northeastern Aurora province early Sunday, leaving at least 11 dead, forcing more than 65,000 villagers from their homes, and leaving nine provinces without electricity. By Monday afternoon, Koppu had weakened into a tropical storm over Ilocos Norte province with winds of 105 kilometers (65 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 135 kph (84 mph). Several of the affected provinces, led by Nueva Ecija, were inundated by floods that swelled rivers and cascaded down mountains, trapping villagers in their homes, said Nigel Lontoc of the Office of Civil Defense. “There were people who got trapped by the flood on their roofs, some were rescued already,” Vice Mayor Henry Velarde of Nueva Ecija’s Jaen town told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that about 80 percent of 27 villages in his farming town of more than 45,000 people were inundated by flood. When a flooded river swamped the villages, residents scrambled to safety but many failed to save their poultry and farm animals. Out of more than 5,000 ducks, for example, only about 1,000 were saved and many rice crops ready to be harvested in a few weeks turned into a muddy waste, he said. “Our rice farms looked like it was ran over by a giant flat iron,” Velarde said. “All the rice stalks were flattened in one direction.” Hundreds of soldiers, police and volunteers have converged on Nueva Ecija, a landlocked, rice-growing province in the heart of Luzon island, to help villagers whose homes had been flooded, said Lontoc.

Koppu weakened from typhoon to tropical storm even as some areas of northern Philippines remained flooded, and authorities warned flooding and landslides could worsen. As of 4 a.m., local time Tuesday, Koppu’s winds slowed to 95 kilometers per hour (59 mph) as its center left the main Philippine island of Luzon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said. Its winds were as strong as 185 kph (115 mph) just before hitting land Sunday. Aside from weakening, it is now forecast to turn east into the Pacific Ocean in the next few days, sparing Taiwan, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicted. Sixteen people were dead and more than 60,000 forced to evacuate, Agence France-Presse reported. The worst single incident reported so far was the drowning of seven people on a ferry that capsized off the island of Guimaras Sunday. The casualty report may climb as information comes in from remote areas, or areas where transport and communication have been cut off. Authorities warned people in evacuation centers not to return to their homes, saying even if rains have abated, the water they left in the mountains will flow down for days, ABS-CBN News said. Rice and other crops were destroyed, and farm animals were killed by the wind, rains and floods, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and other media reported. The typhoon hit regions considered among the country’s biggest sources of rice, the country’s staple. That could revive inflation, which is low, or even increase world prices. The Philippines is one of the world’s biggest importers of the grain.

Koppu Forces 60,000 To Evacuate In The Philippines, Flooding May Continue; Death Toll Rises To 22

A man crosses a flooded road in Sta Rosa, Nueva Ecija, one of the provinces hardest hit by Typhoon Koppu, Oct. 19, 2015. Koppu has weakened to a tropical storm, but authorities warn flooding may continue as water comes down from higher elevations. Reuters

UPDATE: 1 a.m. EDT — The death toll from Koppu rose to 22 as more reports came in from northern Philippines, Agence France-Presse reported.

Meanwhile, the one-time supertyphoon, now classified as a tropical storm, weakened further, with winds of 85 kilometers per hour,according to the national weather agency.

Earth Watch Report – Extreme Weather

RSOE EDIS

At least 30 houses were destroyed after strong winds and heavy rains struck a surprised village in Tabina, Zamboanga del Sur, the police reported Tuesday. Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman of Police Regional Office 9 (PRO), said no one was reported hurt in the disaster that hit Barangay New Oroquita. Quoting belated reports, Huesca said that the “sudden storm” struck the village on Friday night. Engr. Rey Rubio of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said at least 100 residents were forced to leave their homes during the onslaught. He said several coconut trees were also toppled by strong winds. Rubio said that the incident was not immediately reported to authorities because the remote village had not phone signal and that only a few vehicle pass through the area. He said the disaster’s damage was pegged at P500,000.

4 children feared dead in Zamboanga Sibugay landslide

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Four children were feared dead after they were buried alive in a huge landslide in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay, police reported Thursday.

Insp. Ariel Huesca, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Police Office, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer via a text message that the children were resting in an abandoned house in Purok 4 in Barangay (village) Sayao around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday when soil, mud and rocks moved amid heavy rains.

5 killed, 17,000 displaced by Zamboanga flooding

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines— While Zamboanga City has barely moved on from the fighting between government troops and Moro National Liberation Front last month, deaths from the incessant heavy rains spawned by the intertropical convergence zone in the city for the past few days rose to five on Wednesday.

More than 17,000 others displaced when floods caused by continuous heavy rain swept through the city and outlying villages during the past week, the authorities said.

Although much of the floods have receded, some places remain under water as the rains have continued.

ITCZ brings heavy rains

Maribel Enriquez, chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration station in Zamboanga City, said the Intertropical Convergence Zone was causing all the rain.

“It’s been there hovering and it is the reason why we have long hours of rain since last week, making our soil saturated with water,” Enriquez said.

“When our soil is saturated with water, definitely, we are going to experience flooding and landslide,” she added.

The five-day incessant rains with occasional strong winds battered the city since Friday last week inundated 6.47 hectares of farmlands and fishponds.

Damage to crops was estimated to cost P57.9 million.

Sheila Covarrubias, the city’s information officer, said records of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center show that a total of 25 barangays, or city districts and villages, were flooded, affecting 4,802 families or 17,026 individuals.

Five persons were reported to have drowned in the villages of Tugbungan, San Roque, San Jose Gusu and Putik.

Chief Insp. Ariel Huesca, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Regional Police Office, identified two of those killed as Edwina Flores, 58, and her helper Rosanna Fabella, both residents of San Roque.

Earth Watch Report – Biological Hazards – Mass Animal Deaths

Fishermen in this city are at a quandary where and when they would get their next income after the rains brought by low pressure area, now tropical depression Agaton (international name: Lingling), as well as a massive fish kill in the area, has made fishing almost impossible. The stench of rotting fish along Barangay Dahican, Sitio Maitom, Kinhason 2 in Mati City is enough to get one’s attention. The shoreline, which used to be home to seashells, corals and drift woods, has become a deathbed for hundreds of small fish species. “When it rains non-stop in this area we usually see dead fishes floating but this is the first time I saw so many of them dead,” said fisherman Leonardo Bacor in the local dialect. Mr. Bacor, who has spent most of his 57 years along these shores, was among those who first saw thousands of dead fishes floating along the Dahican River. Thousands of dead fishes have also been seen in nearby Sitio Guang-Guang. He said it has been raining non-stop for almost a week now and with almost a ton of fish floating dead along the river most of the fishermen in the area like him have not been able to go fishing this week. “The other fishermen who went out in the sea were able to get very small fishes and in very small quantities after the fish kill,” he added. While he owns his boat, Mr. Bacor has become frustrated with what is happening considering that he has seven children to feed, two are now in college. He said they have not yet heard or has received any support from the local government.Without other options for livelihood, Mr. Bacor and the other fishermen in the area gathered the small fishes washed ashore by the tide and left them to dry under the sun for bulad (dried fish). His wife Felicisima, said they had no choice but to eat the dried fish, which her husband made out of the dead fishes washed ashore by the tide. “We don’t have banana or other crops to eat so the only option we have now is to eat the fish,” she added. Rebecca Purgatoryo, a 54-year-old fish vendor, spent most of the days last week chatting with Felicisima and the other housewives in their area since she does not have anything to sell. She said she used to bring up to 30 kilograms of fish to sell everyday but with the fish kill, she has nothing. The fishermen said the people who know about the fish kill are wary about buying fishes in Mati’s wet markets nowadays for fear that these might be contaminated with chemicals. Most of the residents in the area where the fish kill happened have been suffering from fever and gastrointestinal problems. They claim even their water sources might have been affected by whatever it is that caused the fish kill. Most of the residents source their water from deep wells. “We are not sure what caused the fish kill but we have already sent a fish sample to the laboratory to test for possible pesticide or other content,” said Fatma M. Idris, regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-11).

Ms. Idris, who personally went to Sitio Maitom to check on the reported fish kill, said it is best to have the samples tested for content to put all doubts and rumors to rest as to what really caused the fish kill. BFAR-11’s technical people also went to the area to get more water samples for laboratory testing. The city government of Mati has already created a task force to focus on the fish kill. Mayor Carlo Luis P. Rabat said he wants to clarify that they did not give any order for the cessation of fishing in the area despite the incident. However, he asked the fishermen to bury the dead fishes in safe areas. “If they make dried fishes out of the dead ones, then that might prove unhealthy and dangerous to health,” he said. Officials from the BFAR’s field office in Mati said there was zero visibility underwater in the areas where the fish kill happened. They also reported low water salinity and low oxygen levels in the water. Mr. Rabat was concerned about the period of recovery after the fish kill but Ms. Idris said it will depend on how long the area is cleared of the dead fishes first. “We have to remove all the dead fishes in the area and the waters before we can conduct a thorough cleanup,” BFAR field staff Archie Samson said.

Residents stand next to a long earthen wall which formed following the Oct. 15 earthquake in Barangay Anonang in Inabanga, Bohol. Phivolcs scientists said the wall is the face of a previously unknown fault line which caused the magnitude 7.2 quake. FREEMAN NEWS PHOTO

Instrumental Intensity

Tectonic Summary

The Philippine Sea plate is bordered by the larger Pacific and Eurasia plates and the smaller Sunda plate. The Philippine Sea plate is unusual in that its borders are nearly all zones of plate convergence. The Pacific plate is subducted into the mantle, south of Japan, beneath the Izu-Bonin and Mariana island arcs, which extend more than 3,000 km along the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea plate. This subduction zone is characterized by rapid plate convergence and high-level seismicity extending to depths of over 600 km. In spite of this extensive zone of plate convergence, the plate interface has been associated with few great (M>8.0) ‘megathrust’ earthquakes. This low seismic energy release is thought to result from weak coupling along the plate interface (Scholz and Campos, 1995). These convergent plate margins are also associated with unusual zones of back-arc extension (along with resulting seismic activity) that decouple the volcanic island arcs from the remainder of the Philippine Sea Plate (Karig et al., 1978; Klaus et al., 1992).

South of the Mariana arc, the Pacific plate is subducted beneath the Yap Islands along the Yap trench. The long zone of Pacific plate subduction at the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea Plate is responsible for the generation of the deep Izu-Bonin, Mariana, and Yap trenches as well as parallel chains of islands and volcanoes, typical of circum-pacific island arcs. Similarly, the northwestern margin of the Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the Eurasia plate along a convergent zone, extending from southern Honshu to the northeastern coast of Taiwan, manifested by the Ryukyu Islands and the Nansei-Shoto (Ryukyu) trench. The Ryukyu Subduction Zone is associated with a similar zone of back-arc extension, the Okinawa Trough. At Taiwan, the plate boundary is characterized by a zone of arc-continent collision, whereby the northern end of the Luzon island arc is colliding with the buoyant crust of the Eurasia continental margin offshore China.

Along its western margin, the Philippine Sea plate is associated with a zone of oblique convergence with the Sunda Plate. This highly active convergent plate boundary extends along both sides the Philippine Islands, from Luzon in the north to the Celebes Islands in the south. The tectonic setting of the Philippines is unusual in several respects: it is characterized by opposite-facing subduction systems on its east and west sides; the archipelago is cut by a major transform fault, the Philippine Fault; and the arc complex itself is marked by active volcanism, faulting, and high seismic activity. Subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate occurs at the eastern margin of the archipelago along the Philippine Trench and its northern extension, the East Luzon Trough. The East Luzon Trough is thought to be an unusual example of a subduction zone in the process of formation, as the Philippine Trench system gradually extends northward (Hamburger et al., 1983). On the west side of Luzon, the Sunda Plate subducts eastward along a series of trenches, including the Manila Trench in the north, the smaller less well-developed Negros Trench in the central Philippines, and the Sulu and Cotabato trenches in the south (Cardwell et al., 1980). At its northern and southern terminations, subduction at the Manila Trench is interrupted by arc-continent collision, between the northern Philippine arc and the Eurasian continental margin at Taiwan and between the Sulu-Borneo Block and Luzon at the island of Mindoro. The Philippine fault, which extends over 1,200 km within the Philippine arc, is seismically active. The fault has been associated with major historical earthquakes, including the destructive M7.6 Luzon earthquake of 1990 (Yoshida and Abe, 1992). A number of other active intra-arc fault systems are associated with high seismic activity, including the Cotabato Fault and the Verde Passage-Sibuyan Sea Fault (Galgana et al., 2007).

Relative plate motion vectors near the Philippines (about 80 mm/yr) is oblique to the plate boundary along the two plate margins of central Luzon, where it is partitioned into orthogonal plate convergence along the trenches and nearly pure translational motion along the Philippine Fault (Barrier et al., 1991). Profiles B and C reveal evidence of opposing inclined seismic zones at intermediate depths (roughly 70-300 km) and complex tectonics at the surface along the Philippine Fault.

Several relevant tectonic elements, plate boundaries and active volcanoes, provide a context for the seismicity presented on the main map. The plate boundaries are most accurate along the axis of the trenches and more diffuse or speculative in the South China Sea and Lesser Sunda Islands. The active volcanic arcs (Siebert and Simkin, 2002) follow the Izu, Volcano, Mariana, and Ryukyu island chains and the main Philippine islands parallel to the Manila, Negros, Cotabato, and Philippine trenches.

Seismic activity along the boundaries of the Philippine Sea Plate (Allen et al., 2009) has produced 7 great (M>8.0) earthquakes and 250 large (M>7) events. Among the most destructive events were the 1923 Kanto, the 1948 Fukui and the 1995 Kobe (Japan) earthquakes (99,000, 5,100, and 6,400 casualties, respectively), the 1935 and the 1999 Chi-Chi (Taiwan) earthquakes (3,300 and 2,500 casualties, respectively), and the 1976 M7.6 Moro Gulf and 1990 M7.6 Luzon (Philippines) earthquakes (7,100 and 2,400 casualties, respectively). There have also been a number of tsunami-generating events in the region, including the Moro Gulf earthquake, whose tsunami resulted in more than 5000 deaths.

Four killed after 7.2 quake hits southern Philippines

A strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Philippines early on Tuesday causing at least four deaths in a building collapse. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says there is no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami.

The epicenter of the tremor was located at a depth of 56.8 km around Bohol island, to the north of Mindanao island, the US Geological Survey reports. Within minutes the quake was followed by two aftershocks of 5.4 and 5.3 magnitude.

Four people were killed in a building collapse on Bohol island, Reuters quoted disaster officials telling Philippines radio.

The governor of Bohol confirmed that several buildings, including a church and the former city hall, were damaged in the quake.

The intertropical convergence zone affecting Mindanao badly hit Zamboanga City on Tuesday, making some roads impassable to vehicles and resulting in cancellation of flights. The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) announced Tuesday that some major roads in Zamboanga City have become impassable to vehicles due to flooding brought about by heavy rains. The OCD added that vehicles were stalled along thoroughfares, including in Pilar Street, due to the floods. Radio reports said many families were evacuated from their homes in areas such as in Divisoria district. The OCD stated that the Coast Guard and Philippine Navy are helping in the evacuation operations. Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar ordered the suspension of classes and work in government non-frontline services due to the floods. The mayor also called off work in government offices that are not involved in frontline services.

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Heavy rains flood Zambo; flights cancelled

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The intertropical convergence zone affecting Mindanao badly hit Zamboanga City on Tuesday, making some roads impassable to vehicles and resulting in cancellation of flights.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) announced Tuesday that some major roads in Zamboanga City have become impassable to vehicles due to flooding brought about by heavy rains.

The OCD added that vehicles were stalled along thoroughfares, including in Pilar Street, due to the floods.

Radio reports said many families were evacuated from their homes in areas such as in Divisoria district.

The OCD stated that the Coast Guard and Philippine Navy are helping in the evacuation operations.

Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar ordered the suspension of classes and work in government non-frontline services due to the floods. The mayor also called off work in government offices that are not involved in frontline services.

Negros, N. Cotabato folk flee floodwaters

Army troopers were called out and helicopters dispatched on Sunday to rescue residents trapped on rooftops after torrential rains triggered unprecedented flash floods in parts of Negros and Mindanao.

One of the worst hit was Bayawan City in Negros Oriental where the overflowing Bayawan River raised floodwaters to more than the average person’s height, forcing thousands to flee their homes, rescuers said.

Reports from Dumaguete City said at least 4,000 persons were forced to abandon their homes in Bayawan and three towns in Negros Oriental’s third district.

Also affected by floods were the towns of Sta. Catalina, Basay and Siaton, said Allen Froilan Cabaron, Office of Civil Defense Negros Oriental coordinator.

Troops from the Philippine Army had to take rubber boats from the Negros Oriental State University (Norsu) Bayawan campus in Barangay (village) Carranoche, some five kilometers from the city proper, as the floodwaters made streets impassable by vehicles.

Two Army helicopters were dispatched from Cebu to assist in rescue operations.

Cabaron said rains had been pounding the towns since Friday. Badly affected were nine barangays in Bayawan—Banga, Poblacion, Maninihon, Villareal, Tuba, Ubos, Pagatban, Kalumboyan and Nangka.

Evacuees stayed in the city gym (500), an elementary school in Pagatban (50), the Bayawan National High School (2,523), Norsu (350), the Integrated Business Center (1,000) and an elementary school in Maninihon (20). Cabaron said the number was expected to rise since some residents were trapped on the roofs of their homes.

In southern Negros Occidental, more than 1,000 persons in three cities and four towns had to flee their homes.

At least 297 families in three villages in Talisay City, Cebu were urged to evacuate their homes after huge waves hit the shorelines near their areas on Sunday evening. Talisay Public Information Officer Vince Monterde said Monday that around 9 p.m. of Sunday, the residents noticed huge waves and the waters went inside their houses. Monterde said the City Government convinced the affected families to evacuate, but they refused to move out, believing that the situation will go back to normal. The affected families include 95 in the village of Dumlog, 175 in Poblacion, and 32 in Cansojong. A total of 11 houses and two small fishing vessels were also destroyed, according to a report by the Talisay City Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Monterde said Talisay City Mayor Johnny delos Reyes has ordered the city’s social office to provide relief goods for the affected families. Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration Central Visayas Chief Oscar Tabada said the huge waves were brought by the southwest monsoon. As of this posting, the situation in Talisay City is back to normal, but Monterde advised the residents to go immediately to the nearest evacuation centers if the huge waves will strike back again. The evacuation areas are in barangay halls and at the Talisay City Sports Center.

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Long night of dread for affected families

LEZHEL Genobisa’s family managed only a few hours of sleep yesterday morning after their home and a few other houses were washed out by waves caused by high tide in sitio Litmon, barangay Dumlog in Talisay City last Sunday evening.

“My husband, three children and I were shaking in fear. I saw the waves hitting the houses,” she said.

Genobisa, 23, lived near the dike that was supposed to help buffer the waves which reached as high as five to seven feet last Sunday.

Some families stayed across the coastal roads while others stayed at the Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel yesterday.

Genobisa is staying in a wooden waiting shed across the road where her house used to stand.

Her family was able to save two boxes and five sacks of clothes as they evacuated.

“We first made sure our children were safe here (waiting shed),” she told Cebu Daily News.

Another resident, Jovelyn Jubay and her 5-year-old son, were stranded inside their house for 30 minutes.

“I already heard the strong waves at 8 p.m and when I checked, the sea level had risen. I was alarmed,” Jubay said.

She and her son tried to leave but a column from her neighbor’s house fell and blocked their doorway.

Surge hits Talisay City villages; 297 families flee

CEBU (Updated) — Close to 300 families living in three coastal barangays in Talisay City were forced to evacuate after meter-high waves hit their houses last Sunday night.

A government weather observer said the huge waves were caused by the seasonal southwest monsoon wind or habagat, enhanced by surges caused by Typhoon Ramil (international codename: Danas).

About 297 families living in Barangays Poblacion, Dumlog and Cansojong were forced to leave their homes after huge waves hit their houses around 9 p.m. last Sunday.

Vince Monterde, Talisay City public information officer, said that as of Monday, 170 families from Poblacion, 95 families from Dumlog and 32 families from Cansojong were displaced by the huge waves.

An estimated 50 houses were damaged or destroyed.

Baby Sanchez, 42, told Sun.Star Cebu that while she and her family were watching TV, huge waves from the sea suddenly entered her house through the windows.

Sanchez, a resident of Sitio Kalubihan in Poblacion, said that by the time she and her family got out of their house, their neighbors were running frantically away from the seaside.

Waves reaching about 1.6 meters high pummeled their houses and flooded their seaside village with knee-deep water.

Sanchez said those were the biggest waves she had ever seen. “Sobra ra kaayo to kataas, murag mulapas naman siguro sa tawo (They were too high; they towered over people’s heads),” she added.

6 years ago

As families scrambled to avoid the storm surge, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office sent a team to Talisay City. Officer Niel Sanchez said some 795 individuals were evacuated to the Poblacion Sports Complex.

Back in 2007, the residents were advised to move since they were living in the easement area, said Sanchez.

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